


A Tiny Crush

by ayakocho



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Not Beta Read, One Shot, Pre-Relationship, Strangers to Friends, i told myself i would only write a short story but somehow it ended up with more than 2k words, so like...this is a rarepair/crack ship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-17
Updated: 2018-08-17
Packaged: 2019-06-28 21:00:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15714993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ayakocho/pseuds/ayakocho
Summary: In which MFE pilot Ryan Kinkade develops a tiny crush on a certain Red Paladin and decides to act on his feelings.





	A Tiny Crush

**Author's Note:**

> So I've been seeing people talking about this ship and I fell for it. Hook, line, and sinker.
> 
> I used the first names for all the MFE pilots and admittedly it took awhile to get used to them since they were only addressed by their last names in the show.
> 
> Honestly there isn't much going on in this fic, I just wanted to write about them talking more and potentially having a relationship? 
> 
> Anyways, please enjoy.

Ryan didn't think much about Lance McClain at first. He was just an ex-Garrison student who had apparently disappeared into space and just returned to Earth as the Red Paladin of Voltron. He may have thought that Lance looked kind of cute, but it was just a fleeting thought, nothing more.

And then the mission to infiltrate the Galra base happened.

After the meeting that revealed what the Galra had been planning all along, the four young cadets walked back to their barracks together. The conversation naturally steered towards the mission they had just completed. Nadia who had not been chosen to join the mission bombarded James and him with questions about the mission, not satisfied with what Veronica had told her. 

“And is it true that the Red Paladin Lance had this cool sniper rifle that could track heat signatures even from the distance you guys were stationed at? Oh man I wish I saw that in action! If only we had cool weapons like that!”

He did, and it was fascinating to watch him in action.

“What?”

Ryan blinked in surprise. Nadia was gaping at him and James and Ina looked shocked. Belatedly, he realised he had spoken his thoughts out loud.

The other three were staring at him, and Ryan, embarrassed by his slip up, did not meet their eyes.

After several more moments of silent staring, and the other three looking between each other, James shook his head and continued walking to their barracks. Ryan silently followed behind them.

“It was nothing. Don’t worry about it,” Nadia told him later, “We were just surprised to hear you joining the conversation.”

Ryan nodded slowly, thankful the others did not bring up his prior statement. Because he too was looking for a reason as to why he had thought that way about the Red Paladin.

 

xxx

 

“Please tell me I’m not the only one who thinks he has a crush on Lance.”

Nadia and Ina shook their heads. James let out a deep sigh.

 

xxx

 

His answer came gradually the next day as they mounted an all out attack on the Galran army.

When they lost connection with the Red Paladin on the way to the Galra bases, when he watched the lions get captured by Sendak and there was no response from any of the paladins, when Voltron triumphed over the Galra only to be brought down by an unknown robot. 

Each incident led Ryan to worry endlessly, thinking about what could have happened to the paladins.

And it was only when a certain paladin’s face flashed through his mind as he watched the lions fall from the sky after risking their lives to protect them from the exploding robot that he realised what he was feeling.

Affection.

For Lance.

Oh.

It wasn’t a lot, he hadn’t known Lance for long anyway, but it was still present, just a little. He thought back to all the moments his eyes may have lingered on the other man for slightly longer than necessary, or how his eyes always ended up drifting to him during meetings, and the bright smile the paladin had flashed him before they went their separate ways just earlier today.

And now he was lying in a metal lion that had just crash landed on Earth, condition unknown.

“Hey, don’t worry. He’ll be fine.”

Ryan glanced at Nadia who had come to stand beside him. She gave him a small smile when their eyes met.

“I know you’re worrying about Lance.”

“No.”

“Oh come on, we all know you kinda have a tiny crush on him. It was obvious after last night. Don’t deny it.”

Ryan remained silent but he felt his face heating up and he knew Nadia saw it.

“I knew it!”

“Rizavi stop teasing Kinkade. We have to help with evacuation efforts now.”

Both of them turned to look at James. Ryan silently thanked James for interrupting the awkward conversation.

“Fine…”

 

xxx

 

There was a lot of work to do after the massive fight and none of them had time to rest until more than a week after.

The paladins of Voltron had reportedly been found unconscious in their lions with non-life threatening injuries. They were treated as soon as possible and were now all subjected to bed-rest in the Garrison’s medical wing. Only family members were allowed to visit for the first few days, but eventually they were allowed other visitors. Surprisingly, it was Ina who told him about it.

“You should get him a gift. This strategy has a high success rate in catching his attention and promising future interactions as he would feel obligated to return your kindness.”

Ryan simply stared at her in surprise. She had a point, but what gift could he get for Lance? He didn’t know much about the other besides what he has seen so far (and yet his heart still decided to latch on to him).

Ina seemed to notice his hesitation and suggested that he buy something simple like flowers, easy to pass off as a get well gift as well as a sign of affection. 

So the next day, Ryan bought a small bouquet of rose-looking flowers from the alien florist that had set up shop in the nearby town. 

“Are you sure those are roses?” Nadia had asked when she saw the bouquet he held in his hands.

Ryan shrugged. “Close enough.”

They were walking together down the halls of the medical wing towards the ward the nurse had told them that Lance was in. When he had asked why Nadia was here with him, she had said she was looking for Veronica, but he knew she was more likely here to watch him make a fool of himself. 

“Well, here we are.”

They stood in front of a nondescript metal door. Boisterous laughter and loud chatter could be heard from behind the closed door, and suddenly Ryan felt that perhaps this was not such a good idea.

“Hey, I see you tensing up. Take a deep breath. It’ll be fine.” 

Ryan did as Nadia said and took a deep breath. 

Nadia shot him a thumbs up before knocking loudly on the metal door and making their presence known. They were promptly welcomed into the room by Veronica who was staring knowingly at the bouquet in his hands.

“Hey, how about we give some time for Lance to talk to his friends?”

The rest of the family in the room (there was more than he expected) agreed and all got up to leave, promising to come back later or tomorrow. 

Soon it was just him and Lance in the room (Nadia actually did have something to discuss with Veronica and gave him a wink before she left) and Ryan had no idea what to do. 

“You’re Kinkade right? Take a seat.”

Ryan nodded and took a seat next to the bed.

“So… why are you here?”

Lance was staring at him and Ryan forced himself to say something.

“Flowers. For you.” 

Ryan shoved the bouquet in his hands towards Lance, blood rushing to his cheeks.

“Thanks.”

Lance accepted the bouquet with a small smile which widened when he observed them more closely. Ryan was glad he seemed to like the flowers. Ina was right, as always.

“You know,” Lance said after a moment of silence, “if I hadn’t actually seen this flower before, I would have thought they were roses.” 

Ryan’s eyes widened in surprise at that statement and Lance chuckled when he saw his face.

“I… We visited the planet these were from once, when we were building the Voltron coalition. I remember mentioning how similar they were to the roses on Earth, which led to us explaining Earth flowers and flower language to Coran for several vargas.”

“Vargas?”

Lance laughed again at his response. “Of all the things you picked up on. Yeah, vargas are like the Altean equivalent of hours, but a little longer than Earth hours since their ticks, seconds, last slightly longer than our second so it all accumulates in the end. So one varga is about 15 to 20 minutes longer than one Earth hour. If you want the exact time difference you’ve got to ask Pidge since she deals with most of our technical stuff.”

Ryan hummed in acknowledgement. 

“But I guess time didn’t really matter in space since we weren’t even orbiting a star so we had no day or night. We tried to emulate it in the castle by controlling the lighting but I don’t think anyone was really keeping track. We just woke up and slept when we had to.” Lance paused. “Oh, sorry for rambling. I get easily carried away when I talk.”

Ryan shook his head. 

“No, it is fine. It was interesting to hear about your time in space.”

“Oh.”

“Perhaps you can tell me more about it?”

“Uh, sure. You… were curious about my bayard last time right? I can tell you more about it?”

“Please, if you don’t mind.”

So Ryan spent the next hour or so listening to Lance explain the functions of his bayard. It was part of the paladin’s armour set and could transform into any weapon depending on its user. Lance’s bayard had 2 forms, gun and sword, but he was more familiar with the gun. 

“I’m the team’s sharpshooter, although no one actually calls me that.”

“Why not? I think it fits.”

His response had caused Lance to blush furiously and stutter as he continued the explanation of his bayard’s abilities, making Ryan feel extremely pleased about himself.

When Lance talked about his bayard’s other form, the sword, he looked more reserved and spoke less proudly about it.

“I only just unlocked it recently and haven’t really got to use it in battle. And our team already has a knife guy, Keith.”

Ryan frowned.

“I think it is amazing that you are able to wield both a sword and a gun. You mentioned that the bayard takes the form according to its user? Then you clearly have potential for both weapons.”

“Oh. Um. Thanks.” Lance took a deep breath. “Kinkade… Can I ask you something?”

“Go ahead.”

“Are you interested in me. Like, in a romantic manner?”

Ryan felt his body tense. Had he been too obvious about his intentions? What did Lance think of him now? Was he creeped out? Intimidated? ...Disgusted?

“Hey, Kinkade? You there?”

He flinched when Lance called his name and lowered his head, refusing to meet Lance’s eyes.

“Judging by your response I guess that’s a yes?” 

A slow nod.

“Oh. Well… Hey, can you look at me? Please?”

At the gentle tone of Lance’s voice, Ryan complied and raised his head slightly to meet Lance’s gaze.

“That’s better. And hey don’t look so worried I’m not rejecting you or anything. I was gonna say I don’t mind going on a date or two with you. You know, just to get to know each other? We can start as friends and work our way up?”

Though Lance’s response sounded confident, it was obvious he was nervous as well from the small smile he gave him and Ryan couldn’t help but smile at him in return. They both remained silent after that, exchanging smiles that changed from shy to confident. 

The silence was eventually broken by a loud knock on the door. 

“Ryan? You still in there?”

Ryan sighed.

“Come in.”

The door slid open silently and Nadia stepped in, giving both of them a big smile.

“I came to pick you up on our leader’s orders. We’ve got to pick up some supplies soon so wrap this up.”

Ryan nodded and stood up from his seat. When he turned to say goodbye to Lance, the other man was gaping at him.

“Wait, you’re name is Ryan?! But isn’t your name Kinkade?”

Nadia let out a loud snort beside him.

“Kinkade is my last name. My first name is Ryan.”

“Oh.”

“You can call me Ryan in future, if you like. And I’m sorry that I have to leave so soon. Perhaps I can drop by some other time, if you don’t mind?”

“Sure.”

Ryan waved goodbye at Lance who waved back before stepping through the door with Nadia. 

“So… how was it?”

“Good."

Nadia gasped.

“He likes you back?!”

Ryan shook his head. 

“Friends first.”

“Pity.”

Ryan shrugged.

“You’ll just have to court his pants off then.”

“I’ll try.”

Nadia sighed but gave him an encouraging smile which he returned. 

He had a feeling this would end well anyway.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't actually know the personalities of the new pilots very well so these are just my interpretations of their personalities from what we've seen in season 7. Personally I feel that I wrote Kinkade too OOC haha. Also I love the idea of Rizavi and Kinkade being good friends so I wrote that in too. Feel free to comment anyways if you feel that I'm missing something important about them or they're too OOC or you would rather I refer to them as the show does by their last names (Kinkade, Leifsdottir, Rizavi, Griffin).
> 
> Reminder that this is a rarepair/crack ship and all shipping is done in good fun.
> 
> Kudos and comments are always appreciated <3
> 
> Feel free to come scream at me on [Tumblr](http://trashqueen-cho.tumblr.com/) or [Twitter](https://twitter.com/trashqueen_cho)


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